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Impossible Difficulty Strategy Guide
Premise Beating the game on Impossible is very possible. The main struggle will come in a first few months of the game, and after you get everything going, it's a walk in the park. To begin with, there is no tutorial for Impossible, and the game begins straight with the first ground mission. Picking a start continent *Picking Europe is a strong start, since it halves the price of your Workshops and Laboratories, saving you when you build your first Workshop. *'South America' — only needs 2 satellites, and gives you one of the best bonuses research wise. Instant interrogations and autopsies will save you a couple of research days each. The bonus is especially important if you capture aliens alive, as it will save you time on interrogations, which also reduce the time of certain subsequent researches by 50%. *'North America' bonus drops the price of Interceptors from to , and their maintenance from to . The savings from this bonus are low to moderate, which makes this continent an inefficient start. *'Africa' bonus increases XCOM total monthly income by 30%. The bonus is very powerful in the late game, when you have a lot of countries covered with your satellites. At the start of the game, the bonus is considerably lower, and it doesn't take effect until a month into the game. *'Asia' bonus decreases the credit cost of all projects in the Foundry and Officer Training School by 50%. It can save a good amount of cash, it takes 4 satellites to get the bonus if you start at another continent, and there's a big chance that you may lose a country in Asia and never get the bonus. It is a decent start. First mission Objective: kill the aliens, number of aliens — 8. If it's your first time playing on Impossible, it will probably get you several tries to beat the first mission. Sectoids — changes and tactical advice Unlike other difficulties, on Impossible, Sectoids have 4 HP. XCOM soldiers start with 3+1 HP. Given that Sectoid critical damage is 4 to 6, your solders will often die from a single enemy shot. The soldiers should be positioned behind full cover. You should should flank the enemy when ever possible and blow up cover with Frag Grenades for a clear shot with riffles. Use a grenade to kill at least 2 enemies. Best Tips Ever Please, keep it in simple English. This is probably the best tip ever you can get for this game. There is a way to save your solders. The game calculates your and your enemy shots as 100% miss or 100% hit based on a square on the field that your solders step on. For example, if you save your game at the start of a turn, make the turn and a solder gets hit, you may reload and move your solder to a different spot (to a different square ), and the enemy may miss or hit for less damage (it does not mean to take a better cover). By "fishing" for those lucky spots, you can achieve 100% hit rate for your soldiers while never getting them shot. This wouldn't save soldiers from enemy melee attacks, because it`s always hit. First month of the game Objective: survive the invasion. Major changes in your base and panic level * Abduction missions will increase panic level by 3'''. Over the course of the month, there are two such missions, so at least 4 countries will want to withdraw. * You get a lot less and at the start. Major events during the first month There will be 5 major events during the month. The exact days they appear on may vary by 2-3 days. # First mission # Abduction Mission (29 days until the Council report) # First UFO contact (17 days until the Council report) # Abduction Mission / random Council mission (15 days until the Council report) # Abduction Mission / random Council mission (sometimes after the last mission) # Council report First month strategy It's a solid strategy to keep South America, as mentioned above. It's great for science if you can capture aliens alive, and you will only need one more satellite on this continent for extra bonus. Be prepared: you are going to lose 4 countries in the first month by default. However, with good gameplay it is possible to lose one of them only. One of the ways to keep a Cpuntry is to "fish" for Council Missions in that Country with panic reduction reward. To do that, reload a save made at any time before the mission was announced. Council mission is random every time, and reward is random every time.The countries you should lose better be at your starting continent. This way, you won't lose the possibility to acquire all continent bonuses. There are two general approaches to development in the first month. '''First way is to focus on satellites and base facilities to lay the monetary foundation for future months. It will require a lot of skill with handling your soldiers to avoid losses, but it will keep more countries from leaving the Council, due to launching more satellites. To help yourself with ground missions, it's a good call to research armor, for more HP. If you feel really confident, research the Arc Thrower and keep capturing aliens, to reduce research times and enable Alien Base Assault sooner. This requires to build 3-4 Satellites and Satellite Uplink before 16 March. Difficulty is building time of them: 20 days and 14. So it's most hard time of all war: no well trained solders for easy tactics, only 4 fighters in assault group, no additional power ups and desperate need of Credits untill 15 March. Calendar of key events should be the following: *2 March. Go for a Mission with 4 Engineers reward. (You need 10 engineers to build Satellite Uplink and can't build Workshop untill have 5 engineers.) * 2 March. Build a Workshop (hope you started in Europe) * 10 March. Now prices drops and you can buy 4 Satellites by 77 Credits each * 15 March. Build Satellite uplink * 30 March. Launch all you can Some tips how obtain enoght Credits: * sell some things on the Grey Market * don't use explosives too much * prefer "very hard" missions * skip first Small UFO. You will get Medium UFO * don't buy jets before 27 March. You will not detect second UFO in March Second way is to focus on making ground missions easier. While more reliable for ground missions, this is less monetary rewarding, and will likely result in more countries leaving the Council, due to fewer satellites. * Hire enough soldiers ( per soul) to sustain your ground force. * Research armor and weapons, manufacture armor for your troops in the Engineering. * On the first abduction mission, select 4 Engineers as a reward, and build a satellite after you got your Engineers — to pay. * On the second abduction mission, select 4 Engineers as a reward. * After raiding the first UFO, build a Satellite Uplink facility. You may have to sell some trophies at the Gray Market to afford that. You can get enough money to build the Uplink even if you had before the mission. * Build a Power Generator. * At the Council meeting, it is likely that two or three countries will abandon the project. Thin Men — changes and tactical advice On Impossible, Thin Men have 6 HP, and critical damage of 7 to 9. When fighting them, it is advisable to never engage when the enemy has visibility on your squad at the start of their turn. Cover is not very effective against Thin Men due to their Poison Spit ability, and they have a tendency to keep Overwatch, making assault against them problematic. You can counter this by retreating your squad far enough for the aliens to lose sight of them, then put your soldiers on Overwatch. In this case, the aliens will often advance, and get shot down by reaction fire. If the enemy survives their turn, you can dash back for a retreat and repeat the sequence, or advance if the enemy is retreating. Second month Objective: preparation for raiding the Alien Base, and the actual raid if possible. Raiding the Alien Base is beneficial. Successfully completing the mission will reduce panic by 2 points worldwide, allowing you to prevent any countries from leaving the Council in this month It's best to complete the mission shortly before the Council report. Additionally, it will provide you with a lot of credits, and the ability to research Psionics for your soldiers. Base management during the second month * By this time, you will likely need to expand your base. Build an Access Lift for and . You will also likely need a Power Generator ( ). * Building an Officer Training School ( ) is a good call if you struggle with ground mission. * Build a Thermal Generator ( ) if you have easy access to a steam vent and it's reasonably close by. * Keep your Satellite Uplinks grouped together by building them adjacent to the uplink you have at the start. Four uplinks built in a square will cover 12 satellites (8 from satellites + 4 from adjacent bonus = 12). Construction should begin no later than 15 days before the Council report. * Uplinks have a cumulative requirement on the amount of Engineers. This can be done by choosing Engineers as a reward for missions and by building Workshops. A Workshop takes 10 day to build,so you need to start construction at least 25 days before the Council report. * To enable Alien Base Assault, you require an Alien Containment facility ( ), and it takes a week to build, so start building early. After constructing it, you will need to successfully capture any alien and interrogate it. Next step is to capture an Outsider on a ground UFO mission, then research the Outsider Shard . Troops management during the second month * Hire at least 8 solders ( per solder). Hired solder have 6+1 HP at the start, which will reduce the likelihood of them being killed on a missions. Major events during the second month There will be 2 abduction missions, so there is a high possibility to lose 4 more countries. There will be 5 major events during the month. The exact days they appear on may vary by 2-3 days. # Abduction Mission (25 days before the Council report) # UFO Landing Site / UFO Contact (17 days before the Council report) # Alien Terror Attack (13 days before the Council report) # Abduction Mission (8 days before the Council report) # UFO Contact / UFO Landing Site (5 days before the Council report) # Council report Month Three Objectives: successfully raid the Alien Base. To successfully complete the priority mission, you have to interrogate any captured alien, then stun an Outsider, research the Outsider Shard it leaves behind, and manufacture a Skeleton Key. By this time, XCOM finances should be stable enough to allow you to launch the remaining satellites without more countries leaving the Council. Manage your base, build the necessary facilities, and lay off satellites until the end of the month. When the Council report draws close, make sure your best men are healed up, and go for the Base. Enemy forces inside the base will typically consist of one Sectoid Commander, two groups of two Drones (four in total), one or several groups of Mutons, several groups of Chryssalids, one or several groups of Floaters, and one or several groups of Thin Men or Sectoids. Most aliens are grouped by three, with the exception of Drones. Chryssalids — fighting strategy Chryssalids have 8 HP, so a combination of a Rocket from a Heavy soldier (6 damage points) and a Grenade (3 damage points) kills them right away. They don't have any weapons, so you are not losing anything by using explosives. With enough luck, it is possible to catch them in a single blast, as melee opponents tend to charge straight at your forces. Chryssalids have a "Hardened" property, which reduces the likelihood of being critically hit, so snipers will perform poorly against them. Since Chryssalids don't have ranged attacks and spend their turns at movement, Overwatch is very effective for granting free hits against them. If you can anticipate their approach by using a Sniper's Battle Scanner or reloading the game, you can essentially get a free turn against them by properly positioning with Overwatch. Additionally, highly ranked Assault soldiers with Close Combat Specialist ability get a free shot at an approaching Chryssalid. In conjunction with Run & Gun to get close to the enemy, and Rapid Fire for double shot, this can enable an Assault soldier to take three shots at the Chryssalid during one turn. Further development After raiding the Alien Base you should be very well set off. Just cover the rest of the countries with satellits, finish all weapon and armor research, max out your soldiers' ranks, and avoid losses. Once you stabilize the situation and gear well enough, you should be in no danger of losing the game by having more countries withdrawn from the Council. From this point, you can take the game slowly, and complete all the researches before taking further on priority missions.